Weber power-play goal lifts Canadiens 2-1 over Leafs for seventh straight win

MONTREAL — Another big goal from Shea Weber and another strong start by Carey Price has kept the Montreal Canadiens winning streak alive.

Weber scored on a third-period power play and Price made 37 saves as the Canadiens extended their streak to seven games with a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

“We struggled early in the game but we just seemed to come up with the timely one again,” said Weber, who has four goals in his first nine games as a Canadien, three of them by using his booming shot from the point on the power play.

“You want to score big goals and tonight we were fortunate to do that.”

Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal (8-0-1), the only NHL club without a regulation-time loss this season. The Canadiens are one point short of their 9-0-0 start last season, which ended with a 5-1 loss in Vancouver. By coincidence, their next game is at home Wednesday night against the Canucks.

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The youthful Leafs outshot Montreal 38-31 and outskated them for much of the game, but they ran into a wall in Price, who has won all five of his starts this season while posting a glittering 1.40 goals-against average and .954 save percentage.

“He is so positionally sound and reads the game so well he makes it look easy,” Weber said of his goaltender.

Nazem Kadri scored for the Leafs (2-3-3), who were coming off a 3-2 win Thursday over Florida. Toronto plays again Sunday night against the Islanders in New York, when Jonas Enroth will get the start in goal.

“We did lots of good things,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “Both goaltenders were good.

“I didn’t like the four-on-three goal. That’s on the coaches. We shouldn’t have let Weber hammer away there. But we had good chances. Carey made some good saves. Our goaltender (Frederik Andersen) made some good saves. It was a good hockey game.”

The Canadiens have owned the Leafs in recent seasons. It was their 11 straight victory over Toronto, which last beat Montreal on Jan. 18, 2014.

The Leafs had the better of the play for much of the first two periods but the Canadiens had the better scoring chances and got the only goal 2:06 into the second frame.

Alexander Radulov collected the puck behind the Toronto defence and fed the trailing Galchenyuk for a high shot into an open side that left no chance for Andersen.

Price then had to be at his best as the Leafs poured on pressure. He stopped William Nylander in alone midway through the second and then made two sharp saves in traffic.

Radulov was off for hooking when Kadri redirected Nylander’s shot from the right point along the ice past Price 4:18 into the third period.

“I thought Willie was outstanding,” Babcock said of Nylander. “When Willie’s competitive and wants the puck like tonight he’s hard to handle. He was the best of our young guys.”

The Canadiens were on a four-on-three advantage when Radulov slid a pass to Weber for a blast from about 35 feet out that went inside the right post.

“Toronto played a good game,” said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. “They have a lot of speed.

“We played five games in eight nights and we didn’t have a lot of energy. But Price was outstanding. He stole the game.”

Therrien juggled his lines recently, moving Radulov onto the top unit with Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. Radulov responded with two assists.

The Canadiens are also hot on the power play, with a goal in seven of their last eight games.

Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press